Sumit Sawhney (left), general manager (sales), GM India, with Gagandeep Singh, regional manager (east), in Calcutta. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, June 17: Diesel engines are expected to propel the growth of General Motors India Pvt Ltd. The company sees 50 per cent of its sales coming from diesel models in the next two to three years.

The company may also eventually manufacture turbo-charged common rail direct injection diesel engines in the country. The automaker now imports diesel engines for the Tavera and Optra Magnum. Diesel models contribute 30 per cent to GM India’s overall sales.

“We are exploring all options for our new plant in Talegaon, Pune. The plant is expected to start production in the third quarter of next year, but we cannot comment on the specifics,” said Sumit Sawhney, general manager — sales, GM India.

The $300-million Talegaon plant will be the company’s second in India. GM India will also scale up the capacity of its Halol plant to 84,000 units a year. The company aims to garner a 10 per cent share of the Indian auto market by 2010 and roll out two lakh cars from its Halol and Talegaon plants.

GM India plans to sell 72,000 cars this year, including 24,000-25,000 Taveras and 8,000 of the recently launched Optra Magnum. The company is also testing the waters for alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG). CNG Optras are already available and the firm is working on a CNG version of the Aveo.

GM has launched three models in the past five months — the Aveo UVA, Chevy Spark and Optra Magnum.

The Aveo UVA and Chevy Spark are expected to generate over 70 per cent of the company’s sales in the coming years. The company is also in talks to work out a model for its branded pre-owned car business. In the meantime, Suzuki Motor Corporation has entered into a joint venture with Maruti Udyog Ltd to set up the first plant for making diesel engines and transmissions at Manesar,Haryana.

Suzuki Motor has a 70 per cent stake in the joint venture, which is called Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd. The plant will entail an investment of Rs 2,500 crore in phases till 2010. The facility has an initial capacity to manufacture 100,000 diesel engines a year.